The Japenese economy ministry is trying to help shopping streets in local cities open one-stop "tax-free" counters to stimulate their business by attracting shopping-minded foreign tourists to their stores.

The number of global fliers is expected to more than double in the next two decades. In order to carry all those extra passengers, airlines are turning to a technology very few can make work on a large scale: converting trash into fuel.

Top executives of Japanese conglomerate Toshiba were systematically involved in overstating more than US$1.2 billion in profits, the firm's independent panel has warned in a report to be released on Monday, according to local media.

Japan's central bank on Wednesday cut its economic growth and inflation forecasts, as analysts warned over a disappointing second quarter that underscores the wobbly success of Tokyo's Abenomics growth project.

I'm Japanese and so I'm a sucker for cute things, like manga, quirky figurines and mascot characters. And Pepper, the new companion robot from Tokyo-based technology company Softbank Corp., delivers cuteness like you've never seen.

Confectioners in Japan are fretting over the rising prices of cacao beans -- the main ingredient in chocolate -- amid falling production in Africa due to bad weather, along with growing demand in China and other emerging economies.